Pruning The Water Garden Plants...
Pruning is the process of removing parts of a plant in order to train and shape it. Pruning the plants in the water garden ensures that the plants become healthy, grow and flowers correctly. This will result in the plants producing high quality fruit. leaves and stems.
Older trees do not need too be pruned. Pruning is only done if there are too many branches hanging over the pond. You will have to cut back the roots of the tree is if they are heading for the plastic liner of the pond or when the branches have all dried up and dead.
Shrubs need to be pruned each year as this promotes the growth of the flowers. Shrubs that flower early need to be pruned as soon as the flowers fade. Shrubs that flower late in summer are pruned during the following spring. The shrubs that flower in winter do not need to be pruned as much as summer flowering plants. All you need to do is cut out congested and damaged stems.
*****Climbers do not need to be pruned all the time, other than to cut back old and tangled woody stems. Most of the old stems are cut out in the first year and the other half in the second year when the new stems develop.
Young hedges are cut back to half their height in the first year. The hedge is later trimmed back at least 4 times between early spring and summer.
Water garden repairs
All the garden structures such as fences, gates, walls, paths and patios need to be repaired. Leaks in the pond are perhaps the most difficult to repair. The concrete paving needs to be thoroughly cleaned while and all cracked or broken slabs need to be removed before it trips you over. Remove all weeds and moss from around the slab, take measurements and replace all the damaged material. You can find some beautiful slabs in old architectural salvage yards.
*****You can use a hammer to break the damaged slab and a chisel to ease the fragments clear and to clear all traces of hard mortar. The recess needs to be lined with a bed of fresh sand or with fives heaps of mortar.
Repairing block paving...
Count all the damaged pavers first before you set out to buy the extra material for the pond. You can also use a hammer and chisel to break the old pavers.
Re-pointing...
This a a process of replacing old mortar. You will also need a hammer and chisel. A brush will be used to clean the old mortar. Here is how you do it:
- Spread a stiff layer of mortar over a piece of plywood to match the thickness of the joint to be re-pointed.
- Cut one edge of the mortar pancake to straight edge.
- Take a small trowel
Learn how to select aquatic plants for your pond
Water lilies make any water garden or pond special.
What Are Floating-Leaf Plants?
Wise Advice for any Garden Pond. How to Use Plants Well